From Church to Gallery: what art teaches us about faith

Here's my August article:

The Crucifixion by Jacopo di Cione

The school holidays, and holidays in general, can often involved trips to museums or other places of cultural heritage. This year I went for the first time to the National Gallery in London, and spent a very pleasant couple of hours looking round it. I started in the “Medieval and Early Renaissance” section, where the majority of pictures are paintings on religious themes, usually commissioned for churches and chapels.

As I looked at the pictures, I thought about how they ended up in a gallery rather than being in their original setting. Some would have been moved so that they wouldn't be destroyed during the Reformation. Others came from countries like Italy where this wouldn't have been a danger. However, there was little on the descriptions of the artworks which told you about their journey. But whatever their history, the result is that these artworks, created for sacred spaces and to be used in the context of Christian worship and devotion, are now displayed in a London building to be looked at by thousands of people from all across the world.

This led me to ponder something else: what are all these people thinking about when they look at these artworks? Do they know the biblical stories that are depicted? Do they think of those stories as being true or as being like the Greek myths that other pictures show? Are they inspired to worship or do they just admire the aesthetic or technical qualities?

Although we may not visit art galleries every day, it seems to me that many people live their lives with a similar attitude; they admire the fruits of Christianity but they rip them from their context. As historian Tom Holland showed in his book “Dominion”, the values of Western civilisation derive from the Christian worldview. Values such as equality and compassion, and even our esteem for science are rooted in the Christian faith. Yet our society wants to hold on to these values but reject the Christian narrative and devotion that gave rise to them. Like religious artworks in a gallery, these values might be admired, but they make little sense outside of their original setting.

As Nietzsche famously wrote “When one gives up Christian belief one thereby deprives oneself of the right to Christian morality”.   An example of this is human rights; as Yuval Noah Harari points out, a secular worldview means that “Human rights...are just a story that we’ve invented. They are not an objective reality; they are not some biological effect about homo sapiens.” Whereas Christianity grounds human rights in the doctrine that God made humans in his image and likeness.

So we have a choice: either try to hold on to Christian values without the Christian faith which underpins them; or come to know the God who makes sense of our most beautiful and cherished values.

Humans, not other animals

Here's my sermon from the Broughton Civic Service 2024.  The readings were Psalm 8 and Luke 12:4-7.

At school, one of my favourite lessons was Latin, and so I'm really enjoying teaching it to my own children. I mention this because we are here at our Civic Service, and the word 'civic' is derived from the Latin word civis which means 'citizen.' And so this reminds us that whenever we talk about 'civic' things we are talking about people; we're not talking about positions or committees, except insofar as they are focused on people. Civic amenities, civic duty and civic authorities are all there to serve the common good; they're there to serve the people. And so at the heart of the Civic Service should be the celebration of the people, their achievements and their good works; as well as a dedication of ourselves to work for the benefit of all members of the community.

But the question this raises is why? Why should those in positions of power use that power for the common good? Why do we feel that with great power comes great responsibility? Indeed why should any of us spend our time and energy doing things for other people? If someone asks for our help, why don't we respond with the phrase that I'm told the young people like to use: “That sounds like a you problem!”?

The reason we do care for others is because we believe that they are worthy of our care because they are fellow human beings. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: all members of the human family have an inherent dignity, and equal and inalienable rights. This dignity and these rights aren't given to us by the UN, or by governments; we don't get them on the basis of our achievements or what we contribute in economic terms; we don't get them only if we're healthy or wanted; from the moment of our conception this dignity and these rights are ours inherently and inalienably: they are ours simply because we are humans.

We believe this because this is what the Bible tells us. Right at the beginning of the Bible we are told that God has made us male and female in his image and likeness. Alone of all the animals and the rest of creation, he has made us in his image and put his breath within us. As our first reading, Psalm 8 says, he has made us a little lower than the angels and crowned us with glory and honour. We are both lesser than the angels and also greater. Not only that, he gives us dominion and responsibility for the rest of creation under his rule. But best of all he cares for us – for each one of us, for each of you; as Jesus says he knows how many hairs are on our heads and cares for us above all the rest of his creation!

And he continues to care for us even when we fail to treat each other as fellow image-bearers; even when we fail to live the way God wants us to; even when we don't believe in him at all. He still cares for us. And he cares for us so much that in Jesus, he became human to share our humanity and to die to take the punishment for all our failures, so that through repentance and faith in Jesus that image of God that we mar through our failures can be restored. So if you want to know how valuable you are, the answer is: you're worth as much as God's own blood!

This vision of humanity as having inherent dignity and inalienable rights only comes to us through the Bible. In no other religion is humanity made in God's image, and in no other religion does God become fully human, and in no other religion does God die to save us. And nor can our human rights be established through scientific investigation or reasoned thinking, because on any rational comparison every human being can be ranked according to size, strength, intellect, popularity, wealth, power etc. etc. therefore we can all be said to be better than others but there is no rational basis for saying that we all have an equal dignity and value. The scientific and rational evidence shows difference and hierarchy not equality and parity.

This is what made the fledgling Christian communities an object of derision to the surrounding Roman culture and society. To the Romans it was ridiculous to think that women were equal to men; that children were as important as adults; that slaves were as valuable as freemen; that barbarians had the same dignity as Roman citizens.

If you believe that all humans, whatever age or ability or status, have an equal dignity and equal rights, but you don't believe in the God of the Bible, you have made a massive leap of faith. Only Jesus can give firm ground for believing that you, me and our fellow human beings are worthy of care and respect.

We are always tempted to return to those pre-Christian beliefs that some people are better and more valuable than others; that some people have less dignity and fewer rights. But today we celebrate and honour all those who instead embrace the biblical values of caring for and working for the good of all people in the community. And we pray that you will come to know and believe in the God who makes sense of that civic duty.

Are you a miracle or a maggot?

Here's my article for the August magazine:

For their end of year production this year, the KS2 children at Broughton Primary gave us songs from a number of musicals. Amongst them was one of my favourite recent musicals based on Roald Dahl's book 'Matilda' about an extremely clever girl who is despised by her parents; sent to a school run by the dreadful Miss Trunchbull; befriended by a kind teacher, Miss Honey, and a librarian, Mrs Phelps; and helps her fellow students revolt against the cruel headmistress.

One of the final songs in the musical is called “Revolting Children,” which is sung as the children rebel against Miss Trunchbull. It is a clever pun (one of many in Tim Minchin's lyrics) describing both what they are doing but also Miss Trunchbull's opinion of them and all children (see also the song "The Smell of Rebellion". This opinion is the motivation for her cruelty and is in stark contrast with the joyful opening song that declares that every single life is a miracle. So the children triumphantly sing “Never again will I be bullied, and / Never again will I doubt it when / My mummy says I'm a miracle!”

The opening song, called "Miracle", again has double meanings. The children talk about how special their parents tell them they are, which leads to arrogance in some of the children, and unrealistic expectations in their parents. A party organiser comments “One can hardly move for beauty and brilliance these days. / It seems that there are millions of these one-in-a-millions these days. / Special-ness seems de rigueur. / Above average is average - go figure.”

But then the doctor delivering Matilda sings that “Every life I bring into this world restores my faith in humankind” as every single life is a miracle. This is because “Every life is unbelievably unlikely / The chances of existence / Almost infinitely small” and because “Each new-born life, a canvas yet unpainted.” Although Matilda's parents are disgusted at the thought of her, the doctor tries to convince them saying “A baby Mrs. Wormwood, a child, the most precious gift the natural world can bestow upon us has been handed to you. A brand new human being, a life, a person, a wonderful new person is about to come into your life and bring you love and magic and happiness and wonder.”

Tim Minchin is an outspoken atheist, yet he can't help but describe new life as a miracle, not just because it is unlikely but because of the potential and value of each person. He even has to personify the natural world so that he can describe life as a gift – which his rational, atheist world-view shouldn't really allow. Perhaps we have to describe human life as a miraculous gift because something deep within us sees in it a reflection of God's generosity and love. So don't let your circumstances or other people convince you otherwise: you are a miracle; you are a gift to the world, you have been made in an amazing and wonderful way (Psalm 139:14) – why not find out more about your Creator?

“It would be better if I weren't here”

Here's my article for May:

“It would be better if I weren't here.”  This is often the heart-rending opinion of those who take their own lives. And the consequence of allowing forms of assisted suicide might be that terminally ill people are forced to think the same about themselves, seeing themselves as a burden to their families or society.  Whatever the circumstances of this opinion, it is always tragic.  Which is why it seems odd that Jesus said words to that effect to his disciples.

After his resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples, eating and drinking with them and also appearing to others (Acts 10:40-41; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8) and then went back to his Father, which we celebrate on Ascension Day.  However, before he died he was preparing his disciples for this final departure and said to them “very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away” (John 16:7).  I wonder if the disciples forgot this and perhaps one of the things he reminded them during those forty days was that it would be better for them for him to go away.  If so, I wonder if it puzzled them?

It might puzzle us too.  Surely it would be better for Jesus to have stayed on earth? Now he'd been resurrected he would be immortal and could carry on teaching and healing forever.  We could go to see him preach or witness his miracles; he could have his own TV, YouTube and TikTok channel; we could even 'follow' him on Facebook and Instagram, or read his tweets.  As Judas sings in 'Jesus Christ Superstar': “Why'd you choose such a backward time in such a strange land? / If you'd come today you could have reached a whole nation. / Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication.”

Many people say to me that they would believe in Jesus if he would only appear to them, though of course many people met Jesus during his earthly ministry, heard his teaching and saw his miracles but still didn't believe in him.  However, Jesus himself says why it was better for him to leave: “Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” - he's talking about the Holy Spirit, whose arrival we celebrate at Pentecost.  

In this sense, the Holy Spirit is better for us than Jesus because Jesus didn't lose his humanity when he was resurrected – he was raised physically with a body that could eat and drink and which still bore the marks of his crucifixion (John 20:27).  Therefore, like us, he could only be in one place at one time: he could only be beside us, whereas the Holy Spirit can dwell within everyone who believes in Jesus.  And one of the tasks of the Holy Spirit within us is to remind us that we are loved and valued by God no matter what we or others think about us.

Holding out for a hero?

Here's my article for the June magazine:

The theme for this year's Scarecrow Festival in Scawby is 'Heroes' – a very appropriate theme given the year we've had since the pandemic struck. We've been encouraged to clap for the heroes of the NHS, and to hail other key workers as heroes too – including the often overlooked jobs such as refuse collectors, cleaners and delivery drivers. And then we've had the shining examples of people like Capt. Sir Tom Moore and others locally who have done outstanding work to raise funds, help other people or keep the community spirit up. Perhaps 2020/2021 will be seen as the year of heroes.

Whilst it is always right to thank those who make our lives better in any way, and particularly to thank those whose contribution is often taken for granted, we do need to be careful about using the word 'hero'. The main reason is that we can use the concept of 'hero' to assess a person's value and dignity: the more heroic they are, the more value they have.

Since the start of the pandemic, we've had to think a lot about the value we put on people's lives: whether that through the Me Too campaign or the Black Lives Matter awareness or simply through thinking about who we prioritise for treatment / vaccines for COVID-19. In an interview on Good Morning Britain, Lord Sumpter suggested that the lives of the elderly like himself were worth less than those of the young and so treatments and restrictions should place the interests of the the young before the elderly. Piers Morgan countered that Capt. Sir Tom Moore was 99 when he did his fundraising walk. There is a full discussion about this exchange on the 'Speak Life' YouTube Channel, entitled “Are All Lives Equally Valuable?” the jist of which is that both Lord Sumpter and Piers Morgan are wrong because they see human value in terms of what a person contributes to society, or their potential to contribute.

The problem with thinking like this is that the category of 'good for society' has no definitive meaning, it is always decided by those who have power, usually to protect their own position. All oppression and all abuse has at its core seeing someone else, or a group of people, as less valuable and less worthy of respect. Another problem is that we also tend to think of 'heroes' as being most qualified for a good afterlife.

The Bible is quite clear that human value and dignity does not come from things like cleverness, beauty, ability, fame, power, wealth, beliefs and not even from character; humans are valuable because they are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27). This is the only firm foundation for human dignity and also for human equality. But the Bible is also clear that all of us, no matter how heroic we are, fall short of God's standard for living – which is perfection (Romans 3:23 and Matthew 5:48). That is why we need the forgiveness Jesus has won for us by his death and resurrection, which is available freely to everyone equally.

So let's thank and celebrate those who do heroic things, let's aim to be heroic ourselves, let's value each other as people who are made in the image and likeness of God and let's ask God to forgive us for failing to value each other and failing to be God's heroes.